title: A gastrointestinal rotavirus infection mouse model for immune modulation studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rotaviruses are the single most important cause of severe diarrhea in young children worldwide. The current study was conducted to assess whether colostrum containing rotavirus-specific antibodies (Gastrogard-R®) could protect against rotavirus infection. In addition, this illness model was used to study modulatory effects of intervention on several immune parameters after re-infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  BALB/c mice were treated by gavage once daily with Gastrogard-R® from the age of 4 to 10 days, and were inoculated with rhesus rotavirus (RRV) at 7 days of age. A secondary inoculation with epizootic-diarrhea infant-mouse (EDIM) virus was administered at 17 days of age. Disease symptoms were scored daily and viral shedding was measured in fecal samples during the post-inoculation periods. Rotavirus-specific IgM, IgG and IgG subclasses in serum, T cell proliferation and rotavirus-specific delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses were also measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Primary inoculation with RRV induced a mild but consistent level of diarrhea during 3-4 days post-inoculation. All mice receiving Gastrogard-R® were 100% protected against rotavirus-induced diarrhea. Mice receiving both RRV and EDIM inoculation had a lower faecal-viral load following EDIM inoculation then mice receiving EDIM alone or Gastrogard-R®. Mice receiving Gastrogard-R® however displayed an enhanced rotavirus-specific T-cell proliferation whereas rotavirus-specific antibody subtypes were not affected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preventing RRV-induced diarrhea by Gastrogard-R® early in life showed a diminished protection against EDIM re-infection, but a rotavirus-specific immune response was developed including both B cell and T cell responses. In general, this intervention model can be used for studying clinical symptoms as well as the immune responses required for protection against viral re-infection.
authors.affiliation: Danone Research Centre for Specialised Nutrition, P,O, Box 7005, 6700 CA Wageningen, The Netherlands. karen.knipping@danone.com
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Knipping
authors.forename: Monica M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: McNeal
authors.forename: Annelies
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crienen
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Amerongen
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garssen
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Van't Land
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral